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Neighbor Leaves A Note Calling Widow’s House ‘Relentlessly Gay’

A “Christian” neighbor in Baltimore with too much time on their hands decided to chide a widowed mother for having rainbow colored lights in her yard. Apparently rainbow-colored lights are an instrument of the devil — and also super gay. Here’s the note the good Christian left, along with a photo of the offending lights:

“Your yard is becoming Relentlessly Gay! Myself and Others in the neighborhood ask that you Tone It Down.This is a Christian area and there are Children. Keep it up and I will be forced to call the Police on You! Your kind need to have respect for GOD.” Yes, the police will probably quickly respond to a call about dangerous crafting — I’m sure they have nothing better to do. Not sure what’s more disconcerting: the bald-faced bigotry expressed in the letter, or the random use of capital letters.

Julie Baker told The Washington Post that when she first hung the tea lights, she didn’t think of them having anything to do with LGBT issues. She says they are just pretty, and as an artist, rainbows are a major theme in her work. “Anyone whose known me for more than 10 seconds knows that I love rainbows,” she said. “Somebody threatened to burn down the house before. They’ve used words like ‘your kind,’ ‘people like you,'” said the mother of four.

Her 17-year-old daughter suggested the family start a Go Fund Me campaign under the title “Relentlessly Gay,” to raise more money for rainbow-colored yard decorations. They chose $5,000 as the fundraising goal. The campaign has raised over $43,000 in five days. Think of how many glorious rainbow-colored decorations that will buy. Baker says on the fundraising page, “I am so awed by the unity that has happened because of a really absurd note. How thousands of people have stood up and taken back the stars that glow inside of them and are choosing to push back the darkness with rainbows.”

“I try my best to get up every morning, knowing that yesterday is done, starting new and choosing not to be cruel, or selfish, or uncaring. Compassion is the point that I set my compass by, because for me, that is the easier way to move through my existence. I would rather be catalyst for good, than bad. I know that sounds cliché, but I just don’t know any other way to be.” .

Baker explains that she is a widow and mother of four and she will not relent to hatred. Instead, she says, she will “battle it with whimsy and beauty and laughter and love, wrapped around my home, yard and family!!!” She adds, “Thanks for your relentlessly gay support!”

How incredible that what started as a gesture from a rude, bigoted, downright awful neighbor turned into a story of people banding together against intolerance.